This & That (playing catch-up): This week we were recovering from a week of Revival meetings with Jason Reed. Although we appreciate the effort and the messages along with the other activities of the weekend, after awhile the body doesn't want to cooperate and hurry anywhere else. On top of that, things tend to slowly fall apart at home when we are gone that much so it takes some time to pull it all back together. Last weekend we were treated to a ladies' tea party, a baptism, love feast, minister's appreciation dinner (where our family performed a puppet show), and lots of fellowship. My parents were also here for the weekend. We canned 60lbs of green beans (8 canners) one day. Due to the lovely weather, I was able to set up the canners outside on the big camping stove. It kept the heat and mess outside and left the kitchen for normal daily activities. It certainly helps when the children are old enough to efficiently snap the beans themselves. They could have a pile snapped while I took care of the canners outside and then I would come in and fill seven more jars. Congratulations to my sister who just bought a house. She has lived in an apartment for a few years and was tired of that so decided to take advantage of the depressed housing market where she could own for the same price as renting. I like the "fall back" time change but it sure makes the evenings so long! Tiana has it in her mind that she is to put on her pajamas when it gets dark and is not adjusting well to the idea of life going on when it is dark. I have found that it is quite a bit easier to get to bed at a decent time as opposed to the late nights during the summer.  Here's the kitty that went camping and is in Bethany's pictures from the last post. We are having the worst time with a name for her. We (I thought) settled on "Butter" but it doesn't seem to be sticking very well. She is generally called "baby kitty" and they boys are always coming up with names for her that Bethany doesn't like such as "Cat Carson" or "Bullet"
It is great to have creative and crafty friends. Tiana was invited to join Jude and Gideon for a craft time and had fun painting leaves with paint-covered marbles and then painting pictures with brushes. Thanks April! 
I asked Bethany what kind of cake she would like for her birthday, "A kitty, of course," was her reply. I am running out of ideas for unique kitty cakes so there's going to have to be repeats in the following years. I do need to revise the statement about her being a "young lady" from the last post. Nathan gave her a Nerf pistol for her birthday so she spent the evening chasing the boys around or doing target practice. I guess at this age, lady-likeness comes and goes. | 
